


Set Up

by ami_ven



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Community: writerverse, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 17:29:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6619765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky doesn’t actually need help, but that doesn’t mean he’ll refuse it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Set Up

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "writerverse" prompt "top of the ladder"

“Please tell me you’re being careful up there, Buck,” said Steve, sounding much more worried than he should, when Bucky was only at the top of a twenty-foot ladder.

“I’m gonna start dropping these on your head if you don’t clear out,” he warned, rattling the container of fasteners he’d been using to hang multi-colored lights around the main living room. “I’ve _jumped_ from higher than this, Stevie.”

“I didn’t need to hear that,” the other man protested. 

Bucky snorted, because he knew for a fact he’d done that more than once while Steve was watching. “Too bad.”

“Hey, Steve,” said a new and much more welcome voice, from below. “I think Tony was looking for you.”

“Was he?” Steve asked. “Would you…?”

Bucky rested his hip against the ladder, grinning down at the new arrival. “Thanks for the save.”

Rhodey grinned back up at him, one hand braced on a lower rung. “Takes his Captain America stuff very seriously, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, sometimes, but most of it with me is a hold-over from when we were kids. Like _he_ wasn’t the one getting his ass kicked once a week and _I_ wasn’t the one always getting him out of a jam.”

“I can understand that, too,” the pilot admitted. “You think Tony needs looking after _now_ …”

“I can imagine,” Bucky laughed.

Rhodey tapped the ladder with his knuckles. “Do you actually need help, or was that the overprotectiveness talking?”

It had been, actually, but Bucky was hardly trying to get rid of his boyfriend. “Could use a spotter,” he said.

“And I could use an excuse to enjoy the view,” the other man replied, his grin turning playful. 

For that, Bucky put a little show into his work, leaning a little farther over from the ladder than he probably should have to put up the next few hooks, and adding a bit of a shimmy to his steps as he came back down. Rhodey laughed, and caught him for a kiss when he reached the ground again.

“Hey!” protested Clint, as he and Phil came in with some of the food for the party. “If we’re not allowed to mess around, _you’re_ not allowed to mess around.”

Bucky arched an eyebrow. “You got caught messing around?”

“Someone,” said Phil, dryly, “had difficulty focusing while we were getting the plates put together.”

“You gave as good as you got, sir,” said Clint, not sounding a bit apologetic. “And you wouldn’t have stopped, either, if it hadn’t been Pepper who caught us.”

“She’s a woman with a mission,” Phil agreed, then added pointedly, “Speaking of which…”

“Right,” said Bucky. He handed Rhodey the container of hooks and moved the ladder over a few feet to hang the last few strings of colored lights.

He could easily have put the ladder away himself, but letting Rhodey help him carry it allowed them a solid five minutes of making out before Pepper sent an entirely too-gleeful Clint to bang on the door.

They had only just made it back upstairs when the door opened, admitting Bruce and Darcy, led by a smirking Natasha. 

“Happy baby shower!” everyone yelled, and the parents-to-be both grinned.

“You guys are awesome,” said Darcy. “Thanks.”

THE END


End file.
